Outbreak in dallas

TallDallasGuy's Avatar
This story says the guy had never been to America. He quit or lost his job in September, then decided to visit family here in America.
He apparently came in contact with an infected woman a few days before he left for America and lied on his application to come to America.



http://www.ibtimes.com/who-thomas-er...itizen-1698074
TexTushHog's Avatar
Foreign accent, speaks no/little english; don't they ask for ID.....his passport or foreign issued ID would be a red flag ? Originally Posted by Whirlaway
I hear it's hard to tell when a person is speaking Liberian. Apparently, it's hard to distinguish it from other languages that some other folks speak. Especially for those who speak English. Some how they have a tin ear when it comes to deciphering Liberian. At least that's what I heard. But I could be wrong.
TexTushHog's Avatar
We need to adopt international quarantine of Ebola hot zones = much like Britain and France have already done. Originally Posted by Whirlaway
Where have you read that either France of the UK has banned travel to or from any country? I lightly read at least one, and often two, French newspaper per day and have seen no such story. Same with the UK, although there I only read the Guardian. Air France decided to suspend flights to Sierra Leone in late August or early September, but that was the airline. They still fly to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea and Senegal.
TexTushHog's Avatar
my prediction its going to take 100,000 from Dallas before its controlled. Originally Posted by theboss21422
I'd give even odds it won't "take" more than one or two in Dallas. Infects five or six, tops. I'll give you 6:1 it won't infect over 10 people. 20:1 no more than 15. I can't imagine to odds of 100,000. Hell, it hasn't even infected that many in all of Africa in the entire history of the disease. And projected survival rates here are upwards of 70%. Probably closer to 90% unless the health care system is overwhelmed. And it would take thousands and thousands of cases to overwhelm our system. Probably multiple 10's of thousands.
TexTushHog's Avatar
The quarantine count went up from 21 to 80 overnight! Originally Posted by thathottnurse
No one, other than the patient, is even arguably in quarantine. They have asked less than 20 people to stay home. One kid went to school (a middle school, and no mention of why), and one gal and her kid tried to venture outside the apartment (no indication as to where).

They have now ordered the two who left the apartment to stay home (rather than requested), and placed guards (story I read was silent as to whether it was private security or LE) to monitor them to see that they do stay there. (No word if the gal's kid was the one that was at school, but she's 13, the correct age. I suppose you could call that a semi-quarantine or an enforced stay at home order. Quite different from a quarantine. There has been one quarantine order in the US in the last 50 years -- a case of drug resistant tuberculosis where the victim would not stay in voluntary home isolation.

There are another 60 people who are considered at very low risk of having been infected who have been asked to take their temperature once per day for the next 21 days.
TexTushHog's Avatar
Keep out all visitors from Africa OUT until screened!! Originally Posted by 4pargolf
All of Africa??!!!! Really?? It's a pretty big place. You can be from Africa, or visiting Africa (I have a friend who just got back from S. Africa) and be thousands of miles from any area of disease activity.

Johannesburg to Guinna is 3724 miles. That's almost exactly the same distance as DFW is from Reykjavik, Iceland. Do we really need to ban travelers from all of Africa??!!!!

TexTushHog's Avatar
Now endangering all those peoples lives without mentioning it is beyond a dipshit move. If he willingly and knowingly endangered all those people's lives, they should just take him out back, shoot him and burn him. Just think the doctor that diagnosed him probably went home to his or her family and put them in danger. I'm sure it took time for the test results to come back. Originally Posted by dallasfan
Ironically, he probably exposed fewer people by coming here. (The time line in the NYT strongly suggests he planned to come to the US on 9/3 or 9/4. Was exposed to a person with Ebola like symptoms about two weeks later, then flew here a few days after that.)

Had he stayed in Liberia, he would have exposed far more people, even given that the hospital botched the first chance to get him isolated here. Had he stayed in Liberia, he wouldn't have been isolated; would have been cared for at home by multiple care givers, all without protective equipment; had he sought care, would have had to go to the hospital by cab, or in an ambulance with multiple patients (as with one the caregivers of girl he helped); would likely have died; and then had his body lay in the street for hours to days waiting for a burial detail to pick it up.

Of course one difference is that the people he would have exposed would have been Liberians and not Americans. For some that difference is important. For others, it is a difference entirely without a distinction. But, if you consider all lives equal, he probably did the single safest thing he could. Come here before he was contagious. Ideally, he would have been put in isolation at the first sign of any illness, but that didn't happen.

And for those that say the CDC has dropped the ball, what more would you have them do? I think they've done a fine job. Nothing much more to do. Ebola doesn't spread fast, and it won't spread much at all in the US. Flu will kill 250,000 to 500,000 people this season world wide. Ebola probably won't kill one American this year.
I'd give even odds it won't "take" more than one or two in Dallas. Infects five or six, tops. I'll give you 6:1 it won't infect over 10 people. 20:1 no more than 15. I can't imagine to odds of 100,000. Hell, it hasn't even infected that many in all of Africa in the entire history of the disease. And projected survival rates here are upwards of 70%. Probably closer to 90% unless the health care system is overwhelmed. And it would take thousands and thousands of cases to overwhelm our system. Probably multiple 10's of thousands. Originally Posted by TexTushHog
The CDC is doing a great job at containing and monitoring the situation. The major mistake here was the nurse not telling the ER doc that the patient stated he had just flown from Liberia. Since it was discovered the response has been organized and effective. I doubt many more except the four living directly with the infected man will end up having to be treated. On the off chance he was symptomatic before then or the vomit outside the apartment was not cleaned properly in time and was spread via a pet, shoes, bikes, etc then I just want to wait out the few weeks to make sure it is really contained.

I share your opinion about the outlook of this sitiuation. By no means am I in a panic, but I think the community here should be on alert and diligent about our health and safety until this matter is confidently put to rest.


No one, other than the patient, is even arguably in quarantine. They have asked less than 20 people to stay home. One kid went to school (a middle school, and no mention of why), and one gal and her kid tried to venture outside the apartment (no indication as to where).

They have now ordered the two who left the apartment to stay home (rather than requested), and placed guards (story I read was silent as to whether it was private security or LE) to monitor them to see that they do stay there. (No word if the gal's kid was the one that was at school, but she's 13, the correct age. I suppose you could call that a semi-quarantine or an enforced stay at home order. Quite different from a quarantine. There has been one quarantine order in the US in the last 50 years -- a case of drug resistant tuberculosis where the victim would not stay in voluntary home isolation.

There are another 60 people who are considered at very low risk of having been infected who have been asked to take their temperature once per day for the next 21 days. Originally Posted by TexTushHog
http://m.nydailynews.com/life-style/...icle-1.1960700

You are correct that the 80 are being contact monitored rather than quarantined. It was misrepresented for a short while on the news yesterday and i didn't get back to look at this thread after i last posted. For most, the term "quarantine" can mean anything from strict medical isolation to general isolation from others. I'm sure many reporters yesterday learned the strict differences between contact monitoring and quarantine, quite honestly even I was unaware of the difference. Unless you practice certain things on a regular basis some knowledge is bound to slip. Thanks for clarifying.
TallDallasGuy's Avatar
Judge Clay Jenkins has been all over the news advising that there is zero chance of catching the virus, yet has told the Dallas sheriff to order that if anyone that is in the apartment under the quarantine, to taze them if they do not go back into their apartment. They also quarantined three Dallas sheriff patrol cars as well as the uniforms and boots of the officers who were at the scene the other day.

If no chance to catch it unless one has direct contact with the body fluid, seems like overkill!
macbeth1000's Avatar
The more I read about this victim and his family, I am starting to think that they are all selfish people based on their prior actions and what they are currently doing. They know a dangerous disease was brought here and instead of staying in their apartment, they wanted to leave thereby increasing the exposure if any to others. This is just selfish, stupid and I see one of the family members in a picture coming to take the food dropped by the red cross and he has a smile on his face. These fucking souls do not know what hell they have brought to Dallas
Judge Clay Jenkins has been all over the news advising that there is zero chance of catching the virus, yet has told the Dallas sheriff to order that if anyone that is in the apartment under the quarantine, to taze them if they do not go back into their apartment. They also quarantined three Dallas sheriff patrol cars as well as the uniforms and boots of the officers who were at the scene the other day.

If no chance to catch it unless one has direct contact with the body fluid, seems like overkill! Originally Posted by TallDallasGuy
I just read in this article that the Ebola virus can live outside the body on materials such as sheets for hours to days. Might not be overkill.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/health...-us/index.html
I tuned in from the Austin board to see what people in Dallas are saying about this issue. It's good that all of you are aware. If we were all in a book club together, maybe a quilting club, rotary club, I would imagine that reasonable minds could disagree as to how serious to take one's personal risk to being exposed given the current situation on the ground. However we are in the hobby. If any of us hobbied with a seropositive partner, odds are that there is going to be an exposure. Covered or not, DFK, BBBJ, DATY and heck, sharing a wine glass is super high risk. This isn't the AIDS virus. This shit is super contagious. So if we all continue to hobby, we are saying to ourselves that there is zero chance that the person I've chosen to get with has got it. With the current case numbers, you have a 99.999% of being right. What happens if and when the numbers go up? I for one will most likely alter my hobbying patterns until this outbreak dies down. We get a lot of providers coming down to Austin...I won't be seeing any. I will stick with my current ATFs of which there are 3. If conditions change for the better or worse, I will reevaluate. This situation, although isolated is potentially serious. Everyone needs to give it thought before proceeding.
macbeth1000's Avatar
I tuned in from the Austin board to see what people in Dallas are saying about this issue. It's good that all of you are aware. If we were all in a book club together, maybe a quilting club, rotary club, I would imagine that reasonable minds could disagree as to how serious to take one's personal risk to being exposed given the current situation on the ground. However we are in the hobby. If any of us hobbied with a seropositive partner, odds are that there is going to be an exposure. Covered or not, DFK, BBBJ, DATY and heck, sharing a wine glass is super high risk. This isn't the AIDS virus. This shit is super contagious. So if we all continue to hobby, we are saying to ourselves that there is zero chance that the person I've chosen to get with has got it. With the current case numbers, you have a 99.999% of being right. What happens if and when the numbers go up? I for one will most likely alter my hobbying patterns until this outbreak dies down. We get a lot of providers coming down to Austin...I won't be seeing any. I will stick with my current ATFs of which there are 3. If conditions change for the better or worse, I will reevaluate. This situation, although isolated is potentially serious. Everyone needs to give it thought before proceeding. Originally Posted by TerraFirma
If this gets any worst or in the off chance someone in the hobby catches it....I predict a massive downturn in hobby related activities for the foreseeable future
bojulay's Avatar
I don't know. Ebola sounds scary.

But I do know I'm never ordering takeout from Sal Monella's
Italian Restaurant again.
TallDallasGuy's Avatar
Well if you look at the general area where the patient lived and where those he had contact with are, do any providers live or work out of or near-adjacent to this area?


East of 75-Central Expressway
West of Skillman
South of 635
North of NW highway

I know the answer is YES

Anyone going to avoid them?